By Sarah NEGEDU
The Federal Capital Territory Administration has raised alarm over the increasing influx of almajiris and other individuals with security concerns into the territory.
Consequently, the FCTA, alongside security agencies in the FCT, have agreed to set up a joint security committee to stop any possible threats posed by them.
FCT Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, who spoke to journalists after an expanded security meeting on Tuesday, said the committee has been mandated to profile those organizing Almajiri schools, find out the content of the training they are giving children in such schools and work out modalities to keep them in check.
“We had an expanded security meeting, which includes the Chairmen of the Area Councils. A lot of issues regarding security were discussed, but mainly we focused on the issue of influx of people into the Federal Capital Territory, especially the Almajiri.
“A lot of things were discussed about them and way forward. The Minister at the end of the meeting directed a committee is set up by us.
‘It is of concern to us because we don’t want to wait for anything to happen. We want to be proactive. Meanwhile, the town is calm. If you see anything suspicious, quickly inform the security authorities. We need to profile people coming into our environment. “
chaired by Nyesom Wike, said
The Commissioner also announced that alot of clearance, investigation and high intelligence work by security personnels are ongoing. The effort, he said, led to the arrest of some persons who are considered security risks to the FCT and assured that further details will be released to the public after investigations.
He encouraged residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious persons in their domain involved in shady deals, emphasizing that such strangers ought to be duly profiled for security purposes.
“Everybody should be security conscious. We need to profile people coming into our environments, we need to know them.”
Disu further disclosed that the committee which has two weeks to report back to the FCT Minister, has the mandate to, “See how it’s going to work with the Area Council Chairmen for them to identify schools where these children are being brought into to learn, to profile those organizing these schools, to have the pictures, phone numbers of those organizing these schools and to work out means of working with them in future and probably to find out what the government can do to ensure that they are kept in check and to find out the content of the training they are giving these students in their various schools”.
The committee comprises of members from the FCT security agencies, including the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army, the DSS, and the NSCDC.
